Bleached Scorpion
by NightBringer325
Summary: Death did not go as planned for Roko or his old friends Naruto and Gaara as the three wake up in Soul Society after Stopping Madara Moon Eye plan but they make the most of it before tragedy struck and sending Roko into hiding while everyone thinks he's dead. Smarter Ichigo and Naruto. pairings are Naruto/Rangiku Gaara/Nano Oc/Soifon and Ichigo/Rukia
1. Chapter 1

The 'Art' Teacher

Ichigo sighed, he was having a rough day. First everyone was asking about the truck that crashed into his house then that girl, Rukia, who gave him the power to defend his family showed up as a new student while trying to get him to become a Soul Reaper.

"Yen for your thoughts." Ichigo turned in the direction of the voice and saw a man around 5'8'' with short auburn hair, coal black eyes, and somewhat pale skin. The man was dressed oddly with a buttoned up violet cloak covering the rest of his body with the kanji for scorpion on the back in red and a straw hat with bells and paper strips hanging off it. (Think Akatsuki outfit only different color.)

"Just a long day Akasuna-sensei." Ichigo explained to the art teacher. He acutely liked the man even though he didn't have his class as he had often helped him out when he was in trouble or just needed someone to talk to. The man was like a second father to him and his sisters as he often helped them out when he could.

That said Ichigo learned the hard way what happened to anyone who insulted Akasuna's 'Art.' He shivered at the memory and to this day he had yet to see anything that scared him more than a pissed off Akasuna. Even the Hollow thing he fought barely held a candle in comparison to the things he had seen Akasuna do to people that insulted his Art.

"Well if you need someone to talk to you know where to find me." Akasuna said before blinking as he seemed to remember something.

"Anyway I actually was looking for you Ichigo; I have a new student and rumor states you know her so I was wondering if you could tell me what to expect?" Ichigo's eye started twitching, he had a good guess what those rumors said about him and the girl tied into this whole mess.

"I don't actually know her as I only just met her yesterday before the truck crashed into my house so I'm not going to be much help beyond her name." _at least not without you think I had gone insane_.

Akasuna shrugged and waved his hand in a 'continue' motion causing Ichigo to sigh and say, "Kuchiki Rukia," as he closed his eyes missing Akasuna stiffen for a second before returning to his normal lax stance.

"Well thanks for everything and Ichigo if you ever need help you know where to find me." With that Akasuna left his mid abuzz with what Ichigo told him and everything that meant for this game he had been playing for over a hundred and twenty years.

_Hmm Aizen has made his move now Kisuke what will be your counter_. Was the thought passing through the red head mind as he returned to his class all the while his hands had been fiddling with a small chain bracelet with the kanji for Bee on one side and the kanji for scorpion on the other.

* * *

Short but the next one will be much longer that i can promise


	2. Chapter 2

Secrets Revealed

Night had come and Akasuna found himself standing on the roof of his house/workshop taking one of his few breaks as he gazed at the moon in the sky while he waited. During this time he let him mind wander to times long gone.

"The moon is full tonight." Akasuna heard someone say to his left as he continued to stare at the moon.

"True" he started to say to his mysterious guest as he glanced in the direction the voice had come from seeing a figure covered in shadow as he continued, "But it's not the same moon we knew in are youth is it, Gaara."

At hearing his name Gaara stepped out of his self made shadow leaving himself in full view. Now out of the shadows Akasuna was met with the sight of a man in his mid twenties judging by his face but his eyes bespoke of a person far older. He was about 5'7'' with blood red hair and pale skin with his most distinguishing features being the black circles around his eyes making him look somewhat like a raccoon and his pupil less light green eyes.

He wore something similar to black robes with a red sash around his waist and another one around his left arm with a strange symbol on it. He also had a sword on the sash around his waist.

"Perhaps, but Shukaku still stirs under its light Roko." Gaara's statement made Roko chuckle at the other red head and Gaara gave him a small smile in return.

"So how are Nanao and Mai? Still giving you headaches." Gaara's smile grew at the thought of his wife and daughter despite Roko's comment on the headaches they used to give him.

"Nanao has been the same although her captain has switched from flirting with her to teasing her when she starts to get serious." Roko chuckled again; he remembered Shunsui or as Naruto had named Pervy-Captain particularly when He had given her to Gaara at their wedding and started bawling at losing his sexy lieutenant.

"As for Mai she has started at the academy and already hates it as it's 'so boring' personally I think she spends too much time with Naruto that he's starting to rub off her." Now Roko was flat out laughing at his friend's predicament.

"I have no doubt that is probably true but I'm sure you training her along with several others no doubt has a part to play it as well." Gaara had the decency to look abashed as he did train her along with his wife, Naruto, Shunsui (Only when someone other than Rangiku was there watching), and surprisingly Soifon.

"Yes well that probably has something to do with it as well." Gaara finally admitted as Roko got control of his laughter.

"And Naruto? Has he finally confessed to Rangiku yet?" Gaara stared at his friend for a second, he knew what he really wanted to ask but was at the same time scared to so put it off.

"Yes and no." Roko raised an eyebrow at Gaara's answer and waited for his friend to continue. "He and Rangiku are together but it was Rangiku who asked him out after seeing 'her man' being swarmed by his fan girls."

Roko burst into laughter again after that, Naruto had gone through the biggest changes since they had arrived at Soul Society to the point he much like Sasuke had a hoard of fan girls after him but unlike the bastard Uchiha he didn't want to be rude or mean to them and as such had left him in a rather complicated position.

"If you want to know anything about her you are going to have to ask." The statement cut off Roko's laughter as he sobered up immediately and his smile became sad.

"You know me too well." Roko sighed as he looked back at the moon unable to meet Gaara's gaze as his thoughts moved to her. "How is she," he finally asked his eyes firmly on the moon.

Gaara sighed in turn as he began to speak, "She's fine physically but she has grown cold since your 'Death' and Yoruichi abandoning her has hit her hard even with Naruto and I trying to help her." Roko was silent as he listened to Gaara and although he didn't show anything on his face Gaara could tell his friend was suffering at the news.

"I see." Was all he said his voice devoid of all emotion as he tried to hold back everything he was feeling, Happiness that she was ok, sorrow for being one of the main causes to her pain, and anger at Yourochi for just dumping everything on her as she fled with Kisuke to the human world.

Gaara thought it best to change the subject, the last time Roko had been left to brood Soul Society had nearly caught him with the unintentional release of his Reiatsu. Roko to this day was one of three who could scare him with the first being his wife and the second his daughter both for different reasons.

"As much as I would prefer this isn't a social visit." Roko nodded, he was grateful for the change of subject and waved his hand for Gaara to follow him to the trapdoor on the roof that led into his house. Opening it with a flick of his wrist and a reiryoku string connected to the handle and lifted it up while Gaara followed behind.

* * *

As Roko and Gaara were talking over at Kisuke's shop Urahara was meeting with an unexpected but most definitely welcome guest. Sitting at his table was a dark-skinned woman with long purple hair, golden cat like eyes and an almost permanent smirk on her face.

The woman was also surprisingly to anyone who knew her actually wearing clothes in the form of a black undershirt with an orange over-shirt with two white straps on each shoulder, a large beige sash around her waist, and black stretch pants with a pair of lightweight brown shoes. All in all she cut a striking figure while she talked to the man sitting across from her.

The man had was tall even when sitting that much was obvious with light skin, grey eyes, and pale blond hair, and some chin stubble that looked like a person had taken a dull razor to it. He wore a dark coat with a white diamond pattern along the bottom half, a dark green shirt and pants along with wooden sandals. But the main thing most people noticed was the white and green striped bucket hat that shadowed his eyes.

"So Yoruichi what can I do for you or are just here to chat." The man known as Kisuke Urahara asked the dark-skinned woman as she sipped at a glass of milk.

"Partly things have been getting interesting around here from what I heard." Yoruichi said as she continued to sip at her milk. And indeed what she had heard things in Karaku town were getting very interesting as the hollow activity was growing.

"Ma Ma that hurts Yoruichi I had been hoping you had come to see little old me." Kisuke said a smile on his face as he waved said face with his ever present fan.

"Hmm tempting but sadly we don't have the time as I'm not saying long." Yoruichi said in reply and she was partly sad. She hardly got time to spend with her old friend and lover anymore as she was keeping Soul Society off their backs while Kisuke continued to work on ways to deal with Aizen.

"What the great Yoruichi is saying no to having fun? Next thing you know Roko will walk in here saying he has given up his Art." The moment the words left his mouth Kisuke wished he could take them back as Yoruichi's smirk disappeared and a sad frown was in its place.

"Is it still bad?" Kisuke asked even though he knew the answer. After they had escaped from Soul Society Kisuke, Yoruichi and the others who Aizen had experimented on ran into Roko who shocked them all when it was revealed he was still alive. Yoruichi had even attacked him for leaving to which led to Roko revealing why he couldn't return to Soul Society making Yoruichi and Kisuke feel ashamed but for different reasons. Kisuke had felt ashamed as like with the others it had been through his work that led to his current state while Yoruichi had felt horrible for blaming him for something outside of his control even if she didn't know about at the time.

But the worst of it was when he had asked about why they were here and Yoruichi had explained what she had done everyone had almost collapsed when Roko had unleashed his Reiatsu on them in his rage at Yoruichi and had almost killed the woman if the others hadn't drawn his attention and they fled to avoid the Soul Reapers that were investigating the area.

After that Roko would never stay in the same room with her and had on numerous times had used the woman as target practice when she came near her home. The only time he would tolerate her presence was when Kisuke had called them together to discuss the matter of Aizen and he always left as soon as they were done.

"He has every right to be mad at me he'll get over it eventually all I need to do is give him something for him to make a puppet out of." Yoruichi said with forced cheer that Kisuke saw right through causing him to sigh. Kisuke really didn't like that his friend hated the women he loved but there was nothing he could do about it.

_And they used to be such good friends to, _Kisuke thought before shaking his head. Part of him wanted to tell them both off but it wasn't his place no matter how much he wanted to.

"Besides I think that Kurosaki kid you told me about might just be the thing to help him move on." At this Kisuke raised an eyebrow wondering why she thought that.

"Owe, and what makes you think that." Yourochi smiled at him in a knowing fashion.

"From your description of the boy's personality he sounds a lot like Naruto and if anyone could get Roko to look past his anger it would be that ray of sunshine." Both started laughing at that for a while as they remembered the blonde and soon there memories drifted to the others and their laughter slowly died in their throats.

"Well I'll go turn in for the night if you care to join me." Yoruichi's smile was all he needed and soon both ex-captains were in their room barriers up as they enjoyed the night together.

* * *

As promised much longer than the last chapter and thank you for reviewing :)


	3. Chapter 3

A Scorpions Secret Revealed

Roko rubbed his temples as he walked down the street. He had a late night with the plans and reports he gave Gaara and working on his latest project had left him with little time to rest. Now he was headed to Urahara's shop to pick up a new batch of sweets for his class, and some pocky to act as a pick-me-up for his tired body.

Along the way Roko noticed a black cat on the roof of a house watching him to which he glared back at as his had started twitching to grab something from under his cloak. The cat took off as soon as it saw his hand move but Roko's mood was already bad now that he had seen it.

Seeing Urahara's shop Roko quickly entered only to be met with the sight of a red haired boy shoving a brush at a purplish black haired girl making his eye twitch. With a flick of his wrist Roko sent a Reiraku string at the brush pulling it out of the red haired boy's hand and whacking him on the head with it.

"Jinta what have I said about how you should treat Ururu?" Jinta who had been about to yell at whoever hit him went pale as he looked at Roko like the Hollow King(1) had come to claim his soul.

"Uhh be nice to her and always treat her with respect." Jinta said as he continued to go paler as he watched Roko pull out a scroll with the kanji for Pain on it.

"Indeed I did so what exactly where you doing earlier then?" Roko's voice was calm as he started to open the scroll slowly and Jinta watched his life flash before his eyes before Kisuke stepped in and saved his employee.

"Ma ma Roko I'm going to ask you don't kill one of my team members please." Kisuke said as he revealed himself to the group. Roko looked ready to ignore Kisuke's request before sighing and putting the scroll away making Jinta sigh in relief before Roko knocked him out with the brush he still had a Reiraku string connected to.

"So what can I do for you?" Kisuke asked while Ururu dragged Jinta to the back of the shop making him chuckle and Roko to smile for a bit before answering.

"I need my normal bag of sweats for my class and two cases of pocky." Kisuke raised an eyebrow, the sweats were common and so was the pocky but Roko only ever ordered that much when he had been working for a long period of time and got little to no sleep.

"Alright so what has you up lately?" Kisuke asked as he started to make his way to the back to get Roko's order.

"Just a project that has been annoying me lately nothing for you to worry about," was all Roko said and Kisuke nodded. He knew better than to try a get Roko to tell him if he didn't want to the man was both tightlipped and a workaholic when it came to his Art.

As Kisuke went to the back of the store to get everything Roko watched Rukia walk in a scowl on her face which quickly turned into one of surprise as she spotted her art teacher. The look quickly changed to one of suspicion as she studied Roko much to his amusement.

"Is there something a can do for you Kuchiki-hime?" Rukia's eye twitched at the hime part but didn't otherwise react as he stared her teacher down. She had been feeling strange vibes coming from the man as soon as she had met him and knew for a fact he was more than a simple teacher.

"Who are you really Akasuna-san?" Roko raised an eyebrow at that curious as to what she meant. _I haven't used my powers in front of her and this gigai is designed to suppress my powers combined with my control to make it almost impossible to tell I was more than human._

"And pray tell what do you mean Kuchiki-hime?" Roko asked in his best confused voice. He had years of practice in lying to the point he could only think of three people who could tell if he was honest or not no matter what he said and Rukia was definitely not one of them.

"Your Akasuna no Roko the Scorpion of Soul Society." Roko was shocked but he hid it well as his mind ran for miles. _How could she know about me I wasn't that famous beyond lieutenants, hell the Caption Commander made sure my name never went beyond the lieutenants something about it being detrimental to moral._ Were Roko's thoughts as his face went from the fake confusion to completely blank giving nothing about the thoughts racing through his head.

"That is a title I haven't heard for a long time but I'm more curious about how you even know about me as my existence was kept quiet to everyone under lieutenant?" Roko's voice was calm but there was an edge to it and his eyes promised death if she didn't answer honestly.

Rukia shivered at those eyes while trying to gather her courage. She didn't think he would have reacted like this from what she remembered from Naruto's stories but that had be over a hundred and twenty years ago more than enough time for someone to change.

"My Lieutenant Naruto used to tell stories about you along with Lieutenant Gaara and him when you three were alive. He also told us about you when he thought you had died saying, 'I won't let a friend die forgotten for all the things he has done to defend our home."

Roko stopped glaring at Rukia when she said that much too said girl's relief while he looked to the ceiling processed what she said and let out a humorless chuckle.

"That sounds like him so your part of division thirteen then that actually makes sense." He said as he turned his head to look at Rukia again.

"So what gave me away? My love for my Art or the way I dressed?" he blinked when Rukia shook her head at him indicating neither were correct.

"It was the painting Orihime gave you." Roko blinked, he recalled the painting as it had been Rukia's first day at school and he had placed her next to Orihime. The project for the day was to make a painting as the curriculum had required much to his annoyance so he simply told them to paint whatever they saw fit as long as it was school appropriate much to Keigo's disappointment.

He had been doing a quick sweep of the class to make sure they were doing as they were told when he had come across Ruikia's painting of Chappy the rabbit or at least that was what she said it was he had thought it was some cross of a bear hollow and the Jubi with rabbit ears.

After correcting her mistakes and giving her a few tips on how to improve Roko moved onto Orihime fully expecting something rather creative as he had seen several of her projects before. What he saw had stopped him cold as the panting depicted a red and purple scorpion cuddled next to a bee both having happy smiles on their faces as they slept in a rocky outcrop with a few trees around the edge and a sun smiling down on the pair.

He had been so shocked he hadn't heard Orihime calling his name till she had grabbed his shoulder. Roko was never more thankful for his father's constant lectures about control or he might have killed Orihime when she made him jump. Orihime not noticing his reaction had asked him if he was alright to which he had answered that he was fine then asked her why she had painted that particular picture.

Flashback

Roko waited as the well-endowed teen smiled at him when he asked why she had painted this picture.

"Well when Ms. Kicoo asked if you were seeing anyone you said to her that your heart belonged to your 'little bee' and the back of your cloak says scorpion on it so I thought it would be nice to make this for you since your such a nice teacher." Roko was speechless when Orihime finished with her explanation. He hadn't been given a true gift it over a hundred years mostly because everyone thought he was dead. That and he had never told Kisuke his birthday and he normally destroyed Yoruichi's gifts unless they were actually useful but thoughts weren't meant out of kindness they were meant to save her own skin.

"Thank you Orihime this was truly a thoughtful gift." Roko said as he smiled, it was a smile he hadn't smiled since Ichigo's sisters had been born. With that Roko left to let Orihime finish the painting his smile still on his face.

Flashback End

"Ok and how would that have told you who I was?" Roko asked genuinely curious as to why that had tipped her off.

Rukia suddenly found her shoes to be incredibly interesting as Roko continued to stare at her waiting for her answer. She had herself in a bind now as if she said why she was dead certain her lieutenant would end up dead if not worse but at the same time she might end up the test subject to Roko's newest poison if the rumors about his less friendly side were true.

"Rukia, why did the painting tip you off about my identity?" Roko's voice was once more calm and if you didn't look at his eyes you would think it was just a simple repeat yet she felt a chill run down her spine.

"Naruto told about how caption Soifon was the only person who could ever get you to get out of your workshop as Naruto called it for more than an hour unless said matter involved a fight or poison."

Rukia could almost cut the tension in the air the pen she had as Roko's face went blank. She nearly had a heart attack when Kisuke returned with Roko's order and was staring between Roko and herself.

"Kisuke I'm going to need to borrow you phone and the training room for the day." Roko said in a deceptively calm tone as said man quickly handed his phone over to Roko who walked off to call the school and inform them he wouldn't be able to teach today.

"What did you do?" Kisuke asked quietly his eyes never leaving Roko.

"Something that I'm sure is going to lead to lieutenant Naruto's death if Roko gets his hands on him." Kisuke wanted to ask more but felt it would be safer not knowing, he wasn't one for an early grave just yet.

* * *

In soul society a man sanding a 6'2'' with short spiky blond hair, blue eyes, and tan skin along with whisker marks similar to a fox suddenly shivered as a feeling of foreboding came over him.

"I suddenly feel like going to the human world would be a bad idea right now." Naruto thought out loud while a certain fox just snorted before going back to sleep.

* * *

Back at Kisuke's shop said man had was feeling very lucky for himself that Yoruichi was on a walk right know because Roko was pissed. Said man was alternating from destroying his training room to coming up with plans to kill Naruto for his 'overly big mouth.' Sadly the man had to leave the irate puppeteer to himself as he continued to run his store.

When Kisuke got back after dealing with the mid soul he found that said training room was a wasteland and a note from Roko on the door thanking him for letting him work off some stress as the man cried at the state of the room.

* * *

and another chapter done hope you liked it.

(1) Hollow King- no this is not barragan the hollow in question is actually the hollow version of the soul king even though no one has ever met it to anyone in all of soul society's knowledge and will probably not come up in this story beyond boogieman use.


	4. Chapter 4

The Games Begin

Roko sighed as he set down his tools and wiped the sweat off his forehead. His current project was giving him trouble in both collecting and in creating as he only had a limited amount of time to collect the bodies before they disintegrated and place the modified fuinjutsu seal on them.

"And wasn't that a pain to recreate to." Roko said to himself as he looked at the time and saw it was almost time for him to get ready for work so he quickly sealed up everything and went to take a shower. As the water cascaded down his skin Roko's mind wandered to all the plans he had for his newest project now that he could devote more time to it.

_Maybe I should try to recreate my old absorption seals it would save me time and energy to use them than the more conventional ways not to mention it would definitely give the old bats back at Soul Society a heart attack to watch an attack being absorbed right before their eyes. _Roko chuckled at the thought as he finished his shower and got dressed.

"Perhaps I should ask Orihime-chan for advice hell if she unlocks the power I can feel in her I would gladly take her as my apprentice after all a true master of the Art must have creativity along with control to truly succeed." Roko chuckled again, he could already hear Naruto's loud cry of shock if he heard he planned to take on an apprentice along with Gaara's quiet congratulation for finding someone to teach.

His mental image was quickly forgotten when he felt a massive amount of Hollows entering Karuku town. Roko rushed to the ladder that led to the trapdoor on the roof when he felt something land on his shoulder. A quick glance showed him an almost life like scorpion only the tail looked more like a mini cannon instead of a stinger.

"Master I sensed a large amount of Hollows entering the human world do you need me to watch over your vessel until you return?" the scorpion asked him in a calm if slightly high pitch voice similar to that of a child.

"Most Likely Saso but I need to get a proper view of the situation before I act." Was Roko's reply making Saso nod as best as a scorpion could. Roko took another glance at His personal mod soul's current body as he opened the trapdoor to the roof noting the wear and tear the puppet had from constant use and making a mental note to fix up Saso's body the next time he had a chance.

Both looked at the Hollows swarming the area in a mad frenzy while extending his senses to find Rukia, Ichigo, and surprisingly Uryu in the area where the most hollows were while Chad was alone with several Hollows closing in on his position and Orihime with Tasuki and another group of hollows closing in on them.

"Figures she would be with her, Saso!" Roko said as he turned to face Saso who had raised his tail like he was going to strike him but instead shot out a small green ball shaped pill that Roko immediately swallowed making him separate from his giga and Saso catch his scorpion body which he held carefully.

Roko looked almost identical to his everyday look with the addition of a large scroll stand on his back with four scrolls on it. Roko turned to face where the hollows were again as he scanned for a spot that would give him a bird's eye view and relatively close to the others when he saw the hospital. _As good as I'm probably going to get._ Was the thought going through his head as he flashed stepped toward the building.

Once he was in position Roko smirked as he said to himself, "Well this is a little earlier than I planned to do this but I probably won't get a better chance to a more grand display than this within my time frame." With this said Roko grabbed the top scroll with a reiraku string and pulled it into his hand and opened it.

"Red Puppeteer Art: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!" Roko cried out as he sent a small pulse of reiatuse to the scroll and a much larger one to draw the Hollows attention. The scroll let out a large puff of smoke and surrounding Roko was a hundred Puppets each different from the others but all of them wore a red cloak with a number ranging from one to one hundred on it as he took control of them.

All the Hollows turned to the source of the reiatuse along with the two Shinigami and Quincy as all three thought _what was that?_ Before they saw a bunch of red dots shoot off the hospital and attack the Hollows.

"What the hell who are those guys?" Ichigo was the first to recover from his surprise as he looked at Rukia who was also wondering who the red dressed people were.

Uryu was wondering the same thing as he had tried to recognize the particular type of Reiatuse that he had felt moments earlier. _It was almost like a Shinigami's but it missed the distinctive feel all Shinigami have the only clear thing I could get was that who or whatever it is has a lot power._

The three though had to wait on figuring out who the red cloaked people were as the Hollows that didn't move to attack them returned their focus onto the three.

Roko couldn't help but let out a contented sigh as he sent two puppets to decapitate the Hollows sneaking up on him. It was almost therapeutic to watch his puppets cut down swarms of Hollows while they tried and failed to destroy the smaller and more agile puppets when he felt Kisuke land next to him.

"Well you seem to be having fun I see." Kisuke said with his fan in place as he watched the puppets tear through Hollow after Hollow and Roko who stood in an almost relaxed stance as his fingers twitched and spun in constant motion.

"You have no idea, this is just what I needed something to cut loose on and the Hollows are happy to offer themselves for my Art." Kisuke only stared blankly at his old student as more Hollows were destroyed under a combination of poison and blade.

"Yes well you might want to tone it down a bit or Soul Society's going to pick up on your reiatuse signature." Roko only turned to actually look Kisuke in the eye and the older man could see his eyes almost shine with a knowing look and a small smirk on his face instantly putting Kisuke on guard.

"You say it like I don't know that." Roko said his smirk never leaving his face as Kisuke's eyes hardened and his hand rested in a more ready stance on Benhime although not drawn but ready for a fight.

"Roko what are you planning?" Roko's smirk grew slightly at Kisuke's question when Kisuke realized all the fighting around them had stopped. Taking a quick glance Kisuke saw that the Hollows that had been swarming them were dead or fleeing back to Hueco Mundo and all the puppets were gathering around them.

"I'm not your enemy Kisuke but for my plan to work I need to give Soul Society to send an investigation down here and we both know Mayuri won't stop pestering till they send someone down to investigate." Kisuke nodded, if the Mayuri did get a reading on Roko's reiatuse than the man won't stop till he has Roko on a lab table for him to experiment with.

"Looks like Ichigo's in trouble you might want to go check on him and the others Kisuke." With that Roko sealed up his puppets and flashed stepped back to his home to prepare for the Shinigami that will be arriving soon and to fix Saso's body.

In the twelfth division the members were running around as they detected two massive Shinigami signatures and a Gillian level Hollow only for the Gillian to retreat as one of the signatures attacked it while the first one seemed to vanish completely.

Mayuri stood in the midst of all the chaos his mad skeletal grin in place as he studied the signatures. The one that attacked the Gillian was completely unknown and made the mad captain excited at the prospect of a new test subject and all the things he could do once he got his hands on it. The other signature though was what truly caught his attention as there had been a match and the match was one that left him both thrilled and terrified. He had met and worked with the famed Scorpion of Soul Society and the man was truly a master of his Art in such ways even he respected. The sheer power several of his puppets had was something anyone other than the brute in the eleventh division could respect if not like.

But when Mayuri had learned how he had created some of them did he truly respect the man as his equal. _After all the ingenious way to turn the strength of a enemy to your own advantage is just pure genius. If I ever meet Roko's father I will have to offer him a position within my division as it would be nice to have someone here with true vision._

Mayuri was cut off when his 'daughter' Nemu bowed before him and said, "Captain the cataloging of the reiatuse found in Karuku town is ready to be delivered to the captions meeting." Normally Mayuri would have been angry at his lieutenant for interrupting him mid thought but he let it pass for now too excited by what he had just found so he grabbed the report and left to the captions meeting.

Yamamoto nearly let out a sigh as all the captains bickered at each other as they waited on Mayuri to arrive who had sent a hell butterfly ahead of him to state he would be late for unusual reading coming from Karuku town.

_Unusual reading my beard more likely an experiment knowing that man, _was the thought in the head-captains head as Kenpachi tried to pick a fight with Sajin although the large caption wouldn't rise to the bait when the door opened and Mayuri walked in his smile stretching from ear to ear in a rather gruesome display of happiness as the other captains quieted down wondering what could make the mad scientist smile just like that.

"Caption Kurotsuchi seeing as your late can you explain what caused you to be held up?" Yamamoto asked in a calm voice masking his irritation and the scientists grin somehow grew even larger causing several caption to shudder internally at the sight.

"But of course, earlier today we detected the use of Hollow bait in Karuku town as the cause of the sudden increase of Hollow activity when they fled and a Gillian class Hollow arrived only to be driven off by an unknown Shinigami reiatuse signature."

Many captains frowned; if the reiatuse signature was unknown then the Shinigami was not from Soul Society which was impossible unless a Shinigami gave their powers to a human. The sole exceptions were Yamamoto who had his neutral mask on his face and Kenpachi who had a large grin at the thought of fighting the unknown Shinigami.

"But that's not even the best part during the time before the Gillian arrived we detected a strong pulse of reiatuse that we had trouble identifying." Now everyone stared at the skeletal man in confusion or curiosity when Sosuke Aizen captain of the fifth division asked the question on everyone's mind.

"And what was the source of this reiatuse pulse?" Mayuri's next words caught everyone by surprise and made Soifon stiffen like a board.

"I believe we have just found Soul Society's long lost Scorpion." The older captains all went wide eyed even Gin opened his eyes slightly showing everyone a rare look at his crimson eyes.

"Long lost Scorpion what are you talking about?" this was asked by Hitsugaya Torshiro as he watched almost all the captains gasp or flinch at the mentioning of this scorpion.

"I yes I forgot you weren't a caption when he left Hitsugaya-san so it's understandable you wouldn't know who he is." This came from Yamamoto as observed the other captains reactions.

Soifon had frozen when he was first mentioned but now it was easy for him to see the woman ready to rush out and most likely make a quick beeline for Karuku town which didn't surprise him considering her relation with Roko.

Gin who had recovered from his initial surprise wore his usual grin but he had a nervous tension around him as he turned to look at the others.

Unohana's reaction was not one that most would associate with what most would who knew the woman as her smile turned into a angry frown and her eyes went cold at the mention of Roko as she glared at Mayuri who almost flinched.

Aizen looked concerned but other than that was unaffected as far as he could tell. In Aizen's mind though he was truly concerned with the report that Roko was still alive especially with the puppeteer's notorious spy network that even he doubted he had truly taken control of if he didn't know Roko was still around.

Byakuya kept a calm face but he had seen the nervous twitch the man had made earlier and how his hand had slid to his zampakto unconsciously. Byakuya had had a run in with the puppeteer and there meeting had left a lasting impression on the noble captain especially to never insult anything someone considered an 'Art'.

Sajin who still had his helmet on so he couldn't read his face but it wasn't needed as said man was shaking from head to toe. Sajin's experience with Roko was when Roko along with Naruto and Gaara first arrived. Roko even without puppets or poison had still proven to be a deadly opponent as he had in the midst of the battle created his reiraku strings to simulate his chakra strings that he had lost when he died. With them he had been able to take control over several unsuspecting Shinigami and used them like he would his puppets. Thankfully only one was truly hurt after the battle and the three had settled down in Soul Society as best they could.

Shunsui was relaxed as ever although he did have a small frown on his face. While Shunsui hadn't had much of a connection to Roko he had gotten to know Naruto and Gaara and had helped them as best he could when they heard their old friend had died.

Kaname was as pale as he could be while his hand shook violently. Kaname, Yamamoto remembered had been the one who had been hurt when Roko first arrived as the red haired puppeteer had blinded Kaname with a zampakto slash across his eyes.

Kenpachi looked angry as he muttered under his breath. He hated Roko even more than Unohana which was saying something since the time they fought and Roko won with a single cut and a lot of paralytic poison. Roko had stated that Kenpachi was weak for not branching out or preparing to face others who won't fight the way Kenpachi wants them to.

Finally Jushiro had the same look on his face as Shunshi while he figured out how he going to break this to Naruto.

With his observation done Yamamoto spoke, "Akasuna no Roko otherwise known as the Scorpion of Soul Society was once a member of the Gotei Thirteen and apprentice of Urahara Kisuke before he vanished along with several other souls which was later discovered to be Urahara conducting experiments to fuse hollow reiatuse with Shinigami reiatuse. It was believed that the process ended with to our knowledge in his death a hundred and twenty years ago but it seems we were mistaken."

Torshiro was surprised but while that explained why he didn't know of him it didn't explain why everyone reacted the way they did. Before Torshiro could ask Yamamoto continued speaking.

"He was also one of Soul Society's most deadly Shinigami to the point I ordered all information on him to be kept secret from everyone under Captain rank with the exceptions of Captain Soifon, Lieutenant Nanao, And Lieutenant Matsumoto."

Now Torshiro was truly surprised that HIS lieutenant had been entrusted with such an important secret but none of this answered why the other captains reacted the way they did but he doubted he would get an answer so remained silent but resolved to ask his lieutenant when he got back.

"Commander Yamamoto I request that you let the apprehending of Akasuna no Roko be handled by the Second Division as this is a matter involving a rouge Shinigami." The request came from Soifon in her typical clipped and cold manner but anyone who knew her well enough would have noticed the slight change in her voice when she said Roko's name.

"That is something you will have to discuss with my Lieutenant Gaara as this concerns Roko and he is the best judge for a retrieval mission to catch him." Was Yamamoto's answer to her request as he figuratively threw Gaara to the wolves. He may be the strongest Shinigami but he was also the oldest and with that came a lifelong lesson that you never get in the way of any female who is dead set on finding someone particularly if said person was very close to their heart.

Yamamoto broke that rule when he sent Naruto and Gaara to catch her before she ran off after Yoruichi and Naruto had ultimately paid for it as he spent the next week in the fourth division when she was done with him.

Soifon glared at him but nodded and the meeting continued with him sending Byakuya and his lieutenant Renji to collect Rukia for punishment.

* * *

wow longer chapter hope you all like it and I revealed some of Roko's past here and where he stands with most of the other captains. R&amp;R


	5. Chapter 5

Hunt for the Puppet Master

Gaara cursed Yamamoto in his mind while Shukaku laughed himself to tears at his current predicament. Standing before him as captain Soifon wearing a neutral/cold mask but he could see the turmoil she's in as she requested to be part of the team going after Roko.

"No." Gaara watched as the neutral/cold mask that many had tried to crack shattered as Soifon glared at him with all the anger she had which was enough to make Shukaku stop laughing .

"No, need I remind you that traitors and rouge elements of Soul Society fall under my jurisdiction as captain of the Second Division 'Lieutenant'." Gaara's mask of indifference did not waver as she continued to glare at him with all her might. She had to go on the mission if for the sake of anything just to see if it truly was Roko and not some mix up at Twelfth Division or something.

"That may be true but Captain Yamamoto put me in charge including putting together a team to catch him and as such I say you can't go." While Gaara was able to keep his mask intact inside he was feeling very afraid at the moment as he remembered what happened to Naruto when he stopped Soifon from chasing after he mentor.

"Why?" the question caught Gaara by surprise, not in her asking but the way she said it in an almost defeated tone instead of either the angry retort or her more common cold professional voice.

"Because you're too close to him and if a fight should break out you could very well end up a liability." It was true but not the main reason Gaara didn't want her on the team. He needed to follow Roko's plan and bringing her could very well ruin everything especially if they wanted to catch Aizen in the act.

Soifon for her part glared back at Gaara but deep in her heart she knew he was right. If a fight did break out she wasn't sure she could honestly fight to her full potential against Roko and it angered her that the man had dug himself that deep into her heart when she remembered something.

"If that's the case then why are they sending you? You were his best friend do you honestly think you can fight him if it comes to that?" Gaara silently cursed, she had a point with that but he still couldn't let her go it would get in the way of the plan…

"Let her go Gaara she needs to be part of this as much as you do." Soifon and Gaara turned and saw Nanao standing next to the wall holding a girls hand. The girl had blood red hair like Gaara and her left eye was the same pale pupil less green while the right was a bluish violet like Nanao's. Her hair was done up the same as Nanao's as well but she didn't where glasses.

"Tou-san why is Soifon-oba-chan sad?" Gaara smiled sadly at his daughter as he went over and gave her a quick hug which she returned before he held her at arm's length and gave her a long look.

"Soifon-oba-chan is sad because she wants to go with me on an important mission even though she's needed here Mai-chan." Gaara said to his daughter who gave him a small frown as her bottom lip quivered. Gaara quickly stood and looked at his wife when he saw Mai's lip quivering, he had been caught by her giving him the puppy eye jutsu that all females/kids can do even without chakra which made him wonder how it was possible but he put it out of his mind as his wife gave him a stern look.

"You're going to take her with you because next to you she is the only one who knows Roko well enough to be able to find him." Gaara continued to frown, it was true that other than himself Soifon knew Roko best and probably even better than him in certain areas but that wasn't the problem. He already knew where Roko was but if he brought Soifon than he would have to distract her so he could get a current take on what's going on and when Roko would be able to strike at Aizen.

"Roko-oji-san? I though he was far away?" Mai asked as she looked up at her parents as they argued quietly so as not to draw any more attention to themselves. The question caused Gaara and Nanao to look down at her as if they just realized she was still there which they had as their attention had shifted to each other in such a way they didn't realize Mai was still standing next to them.

"Roko-oji-san was just found to be nearby but doesn't seem to be able to come home yet so I was going to go and get him Mai-chan." Gaara said to his daughter. It wasn't a lie but it wasn't the full truth and he doubted she would buy it completely but hopefully it would settle her down for now until he got back.

"Than Soifon-oba-chan should go they haven't seen each other in a really long time and they would be happy to see each other again!" Mai shouted at Gaara who could see he was in a losing battle with all three women glaring at him though Mai's was more cute than intimidating but Nanao and Soifon made up for that.

Sighing Gaara caved and said, "We leave in an hour Soifon pack whatever you need we may be gone for a while." Soifon nodded as she left while Gaara thought to himself, _what have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

Roko was once more on the roof of his house staring up into the night sky over Karaku town waiting. He knew Gaara would show up sooner or later but there was a good chance he wouldn't be alone after all he was considered dangerous even when he worked as a Shinigami so he would immediately fall into the Second Divisions jurisdiction meaning there was a high probability Soifon would be there and he wasn't sure how he would handle that.

"Well if she comes than I'll have to improvise dammit where's Naruto when you need him this whole changing things up on the fly was his thing not mine." Roko said to himself before he felt two reiatuse signatures enter Karaku Town one being a sealed captain and the other a sealed lieutenant.

"Hmm the Captains reiatuse feels familiar but the lieutenant is unknown to me so probably not meant for me in which case…" Roko didn't finish his sentence as he felt two very familiar reiatuse signatures enter quickly behind the first two and split off to investigate the area.

"Never mind their here and Gaara is already on his way although he's taking the longer route understandable given who he brought with him." Roko said while Saso crawled over his shoulder to look out into the town with him.

"Master what of the Kurosaki boy and the Kuchiki girl? They may need help against the Shinigami tracking her down right now." Roko nodded at Saso's question before he turned around to enter his house again.

"Well I figured now would be a good time to test that new body I made for you Saso you will help Ichigo with the Shinigami coming after him but be careful the Captain felt familiar so that means he has at least some knowledge of the things I can do with my puppets." Saso nodded as they descended into the house.

* * *

Ichigo was not having a good night, first Rukia had to go and leave for some reason leaving Kon to annoy the hell out of him, then he finds Rukia being assaulted by two more Shinigami when Uryu came in to help but now he was having a stare down with the red ponytail haired guy while the other one just watched.

As Ichigo was going to attack his danger senses kicked in causing him jump back as a large creature crashed into where he had the other guy Renji if he remembered correctly. The creature Ichigo noticed looked like scorpion the size of a semi covered in armor plates with strange glowing designs on it. The tail was large and segmented with a large three sided blade at the tip as it swayed slightly (Sasori's tail) while the pincers had serrated teeth on the inner part of them.

But the head was what caught Ichigo's attention not that there was anything wrong with it. It looked like a scorpions head would if it was at that size but there wasn't a hollow mask which Ichigo had been expecting.

"Well it seems I arrived here on time master will be pleased." Everyone stared at the scorpion with a dumbfounded expression when they heard the scorpion's voice which sounded more like a child's rather than a monsters.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked the scorpion who turned to look at him while keeping the other two Shinigami in sight.

"My name is Saso and my master sent me here when we felt the Shinigami were attacking you." Saso said to Ichigo who was still confused at why he was here but wasn't about to say no to more help at the moment.

"Now then Shinigami my master is curious as to why you are here threatening his godson and not hunting down Hollows as you should be." The reactions from everyone nearly made Saso laugh as he watched the two Shinigami glare at him with the one without eyebrows sporting a large tick mark on his head. Ichigo had a confused scowl similar to Rukia's frown while Uryu tried to hide a smirk at the crack at the Shinigami he had made.

"What the hell are you some cheap knockoff of a Hollow?" Renji yelled at the Saso who went stiff as its head turned slowly to look at Renji in a manner that felt all too familiar for Byakuya's liking.

"Did you call me a cheap knockoff of a Hollow?" Saso asked in an all too calm voice that was making Byakuya back away from the area. He remembered saying something similar to a red haired puppeteer and nearly died because of it and the scorpion was giving off the same aura that Roko did.

"Renji don't…" Byakuya didn't get to finish as Saso's tail shot at Renji at a speed even he would have trouble with. Renji for his part only received a cut to his side and although it hurt the wound wouldn't cause any problems for him as far as he knew.

"You dare insult Master Roko's work by calling it a cheap knockoff of a Hollow I will show you the true power of my masters Art." Saso yelled at Renji who got into a fighting stance not really caring about Saso's master but Byakuya only paled at the conformation of his suspicions. Acting quickly Byakuya struck Ichigo down and grabbed Rukia before flash stepping behind Renji.

"Renji were leaving now!" Byakuya said his eyes staying on Saso who moved over to Ichigo and stood over him protectively as he glared back at Byakuya as best as he could.

"What, why, this things not that dangerous I mean come on how bad can it be?" Renji asked before he keeled over as his side suddenly exploded in pain. Byakuya grimaced when he saw that and hefted his lieutenant over his shoulder never taking his eyes off Saso while he called for a gate to get out of there.

"You have made a dangerous enemy this day Captain; Master Roko won't let this go unpunished." Saso said as the underside of his body opened for him to scoop an injured Ichigo into his body.

Byakuya didn't say anything he just left the scorpion while he tried to think of a way to save his lieutenants life along with his own.

* * *

Roko frowned when he felt the two Shinigami leave along with Rukia but let it go as he turned his attention to Gaara who had just arrived.

"I see you're here good we don't have much time." Roko said as he handed a scroll to Gaara who quickly read it and frowned before looking at Roko again.

"This wasn't the original plan why the sudden change?" Gaara asked, he knew Roko didn't just change things on a whim so something had to have happened to warrant it.

"Kisuke made his move and is trying to flush Aizen out by enticing him with the thing he's after." Roko said as he looked in the direction Soifon's reiatuse was as it steadily got closer to their position. He knew he need to get this done fast but a part of him wanted to see her again to hold her in…

_No, now's not the time for selfish indulgences I've sacrificed too much to put in danger right now._ Roko thought to himself as he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning to look at Gaara he could see the searching gaze his friend was sending at him before he turned away from him and made for the trees.

"You can wait nearby to see her you know." Gaara said when Roko made it to the tree line causing him to stop and turn to look at Gaara again with a pained look.

"You know I can't do that anymore than Naruto could let a bowl of ramen go to waste in front of him. I'm good but even my self-control has a limit to what it can handle." Gaara winced but both turned sharply when Soifon's reiatuse suddenly spiked next to Roko who in the blink of an eye was kicked back into the clearing.

"Ooww damn that actually hurt." Roko said as he rubbed the back of his head where he was kicked causing his hat to fall off leaving his face for all to see.

"It's really you isn't it Roko." Soifon said causing Roko's hand to freeze while he turned to look at her his face a blank mask. Soifon couldn't decide on how she should feel, part of her was angry at him for being gone for over a hundred years letting everyone think he was dead, while the other part of her wanted to grab him and never let him go.

"Soi-cha… Soifon it's been a while time has been good to you I see." Roko almost winced when Soifon's eyes narrowed at him._ Damn as if this wasn't hard enough she has to be here right now._ Was the thought running through Roko's head as he tried to figure a way out of this with the least amount of danger to both his best friend and the woman he loved without blowing his cover.

"Lieutenant Gaara, Roko, you have some explaining to do." This caused Gaara to raise an eyebrow while Roko narrowed his eyes at her words.

_I can understand her wanting an explanation out of me hell if she didn't want one whether before or after he tried to kill me I would be shocked but why include Gaara? She knows we're old friends but that's not enough to warrant questioning unless…_ Roko's eyes widened before narrowing at Soifon again while a strand of reiraku discretely connected to one of the scrolls on his back.

"So you read up on my journal Soifon concerning tracking reiatuse and how if someone were let out a sizable amount than it would take the persons attention away from the much smaller amount slipping in from another direction especially if the tracker was only looking in the direction the larger source was." Roko said making Gaara's eyes widen although he missed it when he saw something coming from Soifon.

For the briefest of seconds Soifon had a very familiar smirk on her face that would have fit perfectly on her mentor and said woman would have been proud she had seen it. He remembered her giving him that smirk whenever she beat surprised him and nearly caused him to break character. _No don't think about that or theirs a good chance everything will fall apart. _

"I'm more surprised she was able to read your journals you keep everything in a code even I don't know." Gaara said as he drew his blade. Things were going bad fast and he needed a way out of this or everything they did would not only be pointless but very likely to endanger not only Soul Society but the Human world as well.

"I'm not I taught her most of them before I left I just didn't expect her to actually read my notes as most people with the exception to Mayuri would probably not find it useful." Roko said in response to Gaara statement before returning his attention to Soifon only to jump out of the way when she tried to punch him from the side while the after image faded away.

"Gaara get that to Yamamoto now it's more important right now I'll deal with Soifon just make sure everything's ready." Gaara nodded and flash stepped from the clearing while Roko pulled out a scroll to use.

"I have a feeling you won't listen to me until after the fight despite whatever you heard if for nothing else to gage my level in comparison to yours." Roko's statement was met with another attack from Soifon while she glared at him. "Damn I'm starting to hate it when I'm right."

* * *

another one done i hope i made Soifon somewhat more in character while showing that Roko affected her a lot so dont be surprised if she seems a little OOC other than that i just got back from work and i don't know when I'll have to back so i be working on Lost Alchemist in the time being but hope u liked the chapter R&amp;R


	6. Chapter 6

Scorpion vs. Bee

Soifon flashed stepped into the air the moment Roko was covered by a smoke cloud keeping him from view. She noted that the cloud wasn't large meaning he hadn't pulled out one of his puppet armies as she called them but that only made her even more wary. _He's not stupid despite his current stunt so if he only pulled out a few puppets than they are most definitely going to be tough dammit he's had over a hundred years to build without care meaning this thing could range from a second rank threat to being able to destroy Soul Society for all I know._

Soifon kept her eyes glued on the spot where the smoke cloud was finally dissipating only for it to be completely barren. Soifon's instincts kicked in as she dodged to the left when a segmented tai like weapon shot through the spot he had been not a second later. Her eyes quickly followed the tail to a hunched back looking human with a wider version of Roko's cloak covering its body from view and his hat on its head also hiding it from view while the 'tail' came out from under the cloak giving her the impression of a scorpion ready to sting her.

"So you went a pulled Mokera out you know it won't be enough to stop me." Soifon taunted while she drew her zampakto. She would have used Hakuda but unless she pulled out her ace it wouldn't be enough against the armor puppet Roko used so much before he left Soul Society. _Not to mention what changes he had no doubt made to it as well the only thing I know for sure is I can't let him so much a scratch me or this fight will be over._

"Perhaps, than again, perhaps not why don't we find out captain." The voice from the puppet was much deeper and raspy compared to Roko's normally smoother and lighter voice making Soifon frown at the puppet before once more flash stepping across the clearing zampakto trusted forward to pierce its head only for it to be blocked by its tail. Soifon dodged and parried the bladed end of Mokera's tail as it tried to skewer her and in an incredible display of flexibility she bent almost in half backwards as the tail soared over her head. Not finished Soifon went into a one hand stand and brought her legs up and around the tail before Roko could retract it and pulled herself up with her blade coming in for a slash at one of the small gaps between the segmented parts of the tail to cut off the blade of his primary weapon.

Unfortunately for Soifon Roko had planned for this and the segments where Soifon was currently wrapped around started spinning and threw Soifon off before she could cut the tail. Soifon quickly got her barring as she hurtled through the air when Roko brought up one of Mokera's arms revealing a missile like object covered in strange bulbs and making Soifon's eyes widen in surprise as the missile shot off in her direction. Soifon quickly flash stepped behind a large tree far enough from the clearing to avoid the attack but close enough to make sure Roko couldn't run from her.

The missile went off and the entire area was blanked in a massive poison cloud with many smaller clouds surrounding it when the blubs were flung in all directions and exploded to cover more ground. Soifon had to flash step even farther from the area when the poison started to cover the tree she was hiding behind. This though left her wide open when senbon needles started to shoot out at her from the poison cloud forcing her to dodge and deflect them or else be turned into a pin cushion.

Soifon gritted here teeth as she avoided yet another wave of senbon only to be forced to dodge whatever was coming at her from behind revealing itself to be Roko's tail. _If it wasn't for both Yoruichi's training and my past sparring matches against Roko I would probably be as good as dead right know._ The thought was chilling that all Roko needed was one cut and that was it for whoever had the misfortune of fighting him with the sheer amount of poison Roko used with the sole exception being Mayuri thanks to his own high tolerance to poison.

Soifon glared at the poison cloud as another wave of senbon was fired at her. Flash stepping to the edge of the poison cloud Soifon spun her zampakto in the air to begin her Kido spell but was forced to stop when Roko's tail struck at her again but with one crucial difference, the tail came from beneath her feet. Seeing her opportunity Soifon cut of the last five feet of the tail making it less effective (It's nearly impossible to make something useless against Roko unless it's completely obliterated or to that affect.)

"Hmm well done you've rendered my tail to little more than a bludgeoning tool for the most part glad to see you keep your blade as sharp as ever Soi-ch… Soifon." Roko caught himself when he nearly called her by the pet name he gave her long ago. He wasn't sure how she would react if he did actually call her that before he restrained her, he remembered that kick of hers as he subconsciously rubbed his head where she kicked him earlier and he most certainly didn't want to encourage her to kick him even harder.

"It seems your skills have gone sloppy 'Ro-kun' has your time away from Soul Society caused your skills to dull?" Roko didn't need to see Soifon's face to know she had that smirk of hers again although he did catch the use of her pet name for him whether intentional or not he didn't know but if she was going to use hers than he was going to use his.

"Unfortunately for use Soi-chan I was hoping you would do that." Soifon didn't even have time to blink when the tail piece she had cut off released a large cloud of poison gas catching her right in the middle of it before she flash stepped out even as she started to feel the effects of the poison in her body when she almost crashed into a tree only for Roko out of his Mokera puppet to catch her and land feet first on said tree.

"Now now Soi-chan, what did I tell you about watching where you're going." If looks could kill Roko would be a corpse on the ground right now from the look Soifon was sending his way right now.

"Well I said I would explain what was going on after are fight might as well as get started." Roko said as he gently laid Soifon against the tree he had been standing on earlier while he sat cross legged in front of her with a serious look on his face as they stared at each other.

"I suppose the best place to begin would be when I was forced to flee from Soul Society. I take it you heard the report about my sudden disappearance which was later explained by Kisuke experimenting on me collimating in me dying via Hollowification?" Roko waited for Soifon to respond but remembered she was paralyzed so he pulled out a syringe and injected it into Soifon's neck much to her silent protests.

"There that should free up the muscles from your neck and up so we will be able to talk but anyway the truth was that while I was experimented on and it wasn't Kisuke who did it although I might have 'borrowed' something of his to help out after I got away from my captors." Roko said his face grim till he reached the part about 'borrowing' something from the blond scientist with his face giving way to a small grin at the thought of one upping his old teacher.

Soifon's reaction though was quite different, her eyes going wide at the fact Kisuke, a man who she could honestly say she hated for what she had believed crimes against Roko and for dragging Yoruichi into it with him. She still hated the man but if Roko was telling the truth she wasn't going to blame him for what happened to Roko if he is indeed not responsible for it. She still hated the lazy bastard but it might not be as bad now as it was before.

"If Urahara wasn't responsible for it than whom and what did they do to you?" Roko sighed at her question although he felt happy she still cared enough for him to go after his captors even if that would only complicate his problems right now. He was thinking what he could reveal to her without throwing his plan completely off track any more than they were now.

"Sorry Soi-chan but for things to work out how I want them to I can't have any one acting out of character around them or they might run before I can catch them." Roko said only to flinch at Soifon's glare as she started to yell at him.

"What the hell do you mean act out of character around them I'm the captain of the Second Division I know dam well how to keep a secret and how to maintain a facade Akasuna no Roko you know that so why won't you tell me?" That question hit Roko hard as he looked at Soifon's face while her mask broke and all the pain and sadness that had built up for over a hundred years poured out of her. Despite all this Roko if only barely was able to keep calm until he heard her next question.

"Why, don't you trust me enough to be able to help?" The question broke Roko as he did the only thing he could think of. Gently tilting her chin up Roko leaned in and Kissed Soifon with all the love and care he could place into it while Soifon's eyes widened before they closed and returned the kiss with just as much love as Roko if not more so. The kiss while long was not a passionate one with the tongue battles or groping like they had had before his untimely departure. No this kiss was rather tamed when compared to that but it did what it was meant to do which was to show all the love they felt for each other even after their forced separation.

Roko soon separated partly because he still needed to finish his explanation and partly because he was almost out of air which he still needed if he wanted to continue his existence. Soifon was also catching her breath but her mind had wandered down a different path than Roko's that would have made Yoruichi giggle and tease her relentlessly hence why her cheeks had a slight pink tinge to them.

"Soifon you know I would trust you with my life but these people are strong enough to make Yamamoto wary of fighting them and I don't want to put you at any more risk than your in now." Roko said as he leaned his forehead against hers while his eyes stared back into her. Soifon for her part was having trouble fighting down the feeling she had buried deep in her heart now that she had let them run free but she managed to get them under control.

"Fine but your still in trouble and when this is over we are going to have a long talk understood." It wasn't a question and both of them knew it as Roko's mouth twitched into a smile and he leaned back to give her some space making Soifon pout for a second before it vanished and her mask was back on her face.

"Understood Captain Soifon a full debriefing after the mission has been completed." Roko said grin fully in place as he brought his hand up for a mocking salute while Soifon's eyebrow twitched whether in amusement or anger he didn't know nor was he going to ask.

"Right I'm off the poison will where off in about a minute or so after which you should probably head back to Soul Society to deliver your report to the captains." Roko turned to leave only to stop and reach into his cloak and pull out a scroll and set it in her lap.

"You mind giving that to Naruto it's a gift for how he kept me remembered in his division and I feel this will do nicely." Soifon was about to yell at Roko when she saw the look in his eye and the twisted grin on his face and just kept quiet. She had seen both before and it normally meant someone was about to suffer for whatever wrong they did to Roko or someone he was close to. It suddenly crossed her mind that Naruto who was one of Roko's closest friends was also often the target of his ire in some way or form.

Nodding she watched as Roko flash stepped away just as feeling returned to the rest of her body causing her to stretch slightly before she got up and opened the way back to Soul Society to deliver her report while a certain black cat watched them go smiling at the them before it turned and headed off to see a certain blonde scientist.

* * *

Ok I know I said I would update Lost Alchemist but this chapter was stuck in my head and just wouldn't move aside till I typed it. I do hope I did ok with the fight scene and before anyone says I made Roko OP or nerfed Soifon I will say this right now that while Roko may seem to be op Sasori was the same it's just that Sakura who in a rare moment proved her usefulness in making an antidote to Sasori's poison otherwise she would have been dead and Sasori's grandmother soon after. In this case no one has had a real chance to properly make an antidote other than Roko and he's constantly switching poisons so that he makes it even more difficult to counter.

As for Soifon she was going through emotional stress added to the fact she was fighting against Roko not only in an area he had prepared ahead of time but also against a puppet specifically designed to counter hand to hand combat with its only weakness being something with a lot of power or another method that Soifon knows but didn't get the chance to use.

I'm also going to be making a list for specific puppets for people to see what they are but I won't do spoilers on them if they have stuff that u haven't seen yet.

Mokera- Armor puppet- Mokera is Roko's version of Sasori's Hiroko hence why where similar to each other including the missile arm although where Sasori's had senbon Roko's had poison gas that is meant to cover a wide area for long periods of time. Normally he uses it as a smoke screen so he can attack at different areas or hide traps for his enemies to stumble on. Mokera also had the same tail design as Hiroko but it's more advanced with the segments able to spin and poison gas compartments in the segments of the tail. This though means that the tail is bigger than Hiroko's and isn't a fast or flexible in comparison.

Right so there u go and also sorry if Soifon was a little ooc I loosely based this off from her match with Yoruichi with the obvious differences.

Another thing to one Cyril about how Naruto seemed weak I would like to point out a few things right now.

One, Soifon is a CAPTAIN not something to overlook and while Naruto is at captain level there is simply no open spots for him at the moment so he hasn't been promoted yet.

Two, Naruto at the time wasn't fighting her at full power because he knew she was going through a tough time as just twenty years before Yoruichi left Roko had gone missing add to the fact that the one person who was her mentor and the closest person she had at the time up and runs off with the man accused of killing Roko via hollowification meaning she was pretty messed up at the time.

Three, despite making him both smarter and stronger Naruto is still willing to take a beating if it will help his friends and to him Soifon along with Nano are practically sisters with how close they are to Roko and Gaara respectively so if beating him up will help her feel better then he will take the beating.

That said this is probably the only time I will have Naruto take a one sided beating in this story though I can see Rangiku having her own way of keeping him in line :)


	7. Chapter 7

Lesson One Never Piss Off a Puppet Master

It was close to midnight when Roko walked into Urahara's shop. He had come here after he got a message from said man concerning Ichigo and the Shinigami who had attacked him earlier and had come straight to the candy shop to help his godson.

Stepping through the door Roko was greeted to the sight of Kisuke and Yoruichi making out in front of him causing his face to go blank before sighing. Clearing his voice loudly so as to catch the other twos attention Roko felt is eye twitch as both looked at him but beyond a small wave they didn't bother to greet him and continued kissing.

"Kisuke mind doing this on your own time rather than wasting mine you told me Ichigo was injured so where is he?" Roko asked his voice carrying over his irritation at the two if his glare didn't do that already. Finally taking the hint the two separated with cheeky grins on their faces making Roko's hand drop to one of his scrolls out of instinct, he along with many others had seen those grins and knew something bad was about to happen to the one on the receiving end of said grin.

"Yes yes, Ichigo's inside and Tessei taking care of him right now along with Saso, although, we had to move him into a stuffed animal." Kisuke said his smile never leaving his face making Roko even more wary.

"So how was your fight with Soifon?" Kisuke asked making Roko freeze where he stood as he tried to figure out how they could have known who he was fighting earlier.

"No need to get stiff 'Ro-kun' I felt you getting into a fight so I came by to help out but you had it all under control right down to the end." The way Yoruichi's smirk grew to more resemble a cat that swallowed the canary only made Roko feel even more nervous. He may hate her but if there was one thing Roko never did it was underestimate people particularly when said people were known pranksters like Naruto.

"I see, and what has you all smiling so happily about that?" Roko asked as he carefully moved back towards the door out of the shop while their smiles grew again something he was sure wasn't possible yet they managed it somehow.

"Well I always make sure to keep memories of certain events and this one was just too good to pass up." Yoruichi said as she held a picture up of me kissing Soifon earlier causing my eyebrow to twitch in annoyance.

"I see is that it well I don't see why that would have you smiling like that." It was a statement not a question and they all knew it as Yoruichi has seen Soifon and him kiss on several occasion with her more often than not the one who set of the whole thing in the first place and just smirk at them.

"Really I just remembered Kisuke how far are you on that project you were working on?" The Mock question made Roko's blood turn to ice as Kisuke had a mocking puzzled expression as he looked at Yoruichi while keeping me in sight.

"Hmm which project are we talking about Yoruichi? I have several." The buildup was starting to seriously worry Roko because knowing Kisuke that statement was absolutely true meaning it could be anything from a way into hell to bug repellant.

"The one for sending small object directly into Soul Society so you could try to plant your bugs around the place." Yoruichi asked making Kisuke's eyes light up but before he could say anything he along with Yoruichi were pinned to the ground by a puppet with massive arms that took up almost the entire room.

"Firstly, I'm not in the mood for games at the moment as you both well know. Secondly, if I see that picture beyond your personal scrapbook I will turn both of you into puppets, am I clear?" Roko asked while making Torappu squeeze them harder. The puppet was one of his better ones but no masterpiece as it had seals on the hands to drain any and all power the user tries to call up and stores it in the main body of the puppet for later use.

"Ma ma Roko no need to get so serious just a harmless prank." Kisuke said as he shifted in the puppets grip to try and get more comfortable. Roko glared at him before releasing them and moving deeper into the shop to find Ichigo.

* * *

In Soul Society Gaara and Soifon were standing in front of the captain commanders desk as he read the report from both of them.

"So you failed to apprehend him and he sent you back after incapacitating Captain Soifon with another as of yet unknown poison." Soifon twitched at the incapacitating part but other than that neither reacted to the piercing gaze sent their way.

"Yes Captain Commander." They both said as he continued to stare at them some more before returning to the paperwork on his desk. He was positive there was more to it but he didn't want to pry as Gaara would tell him what Roko said while whatever happened between Soifon and Roko was none of his business as far as he was concerned. He had the unfortunate experience to say that prying into Roko's personal life more often than not ended with someone in critical condition himself included.

"Dismissed Soifon." Soifon nodded and left the room leaving only the two highest ranking officers of the first division alone.

"What did Roko have for us Gaara that he needed to get are attention rather than wait for the normal meeting time?" Yamamoto asked his eyes hard but with an undercurrent of unease hidden under them that Gaara could barely see.

"Urahara-san has placed the package in Kuchiki-san trying to draw the traitor out while he prepares a team to go in and make sure it stays safe Captain." Gaara's statement made Yamamoto frown in concentration as he tried to see what the Ex Captain had in mind when Gaara handed him a scroll with the Kanji for Scorpion on it showing it was from Roko.

"This has everything Roko could figure out about what Urahara-san is planning along with what information Roko has on the traitors at the moment." Yamamoto nodded and opened the scroll to read what Roko had gathered so far.

"Captain Soifon also knows that there are traitors as well but Roko has requested that we keep her as safe for as long as we can despite his warning her to not get involved." Gaara's face was an emotionless mask before the gaze of his captain before he nodded to Gaara who bowed and left the room.

Soifon was making her way to the Tenth Division after checking in on her own and setting the schedule for the day and beating the crap out of her lieutenant when she found him half way through filling the place with expensive and useless stuff to 'show off his wealth' before she went looking for Naruto.

In truth she only had four places to check which were the Fourth Division, the Tenth Division, the Thirteenth Division, and the Raman bar in the West Rukongai Five. She had already checked the Fourth Division and was on her way to the Tenth to see if he was their when she saw a yellow and black blur to her right.

Turning quickly Soifon was met with the sight of Naruto rubbing his head while Nanao was giving him a lecture on something while her Zampakto was in her hand though still sheathed.

"I have told you a thousand times now you are not allowed to take Mai out of class just so the two of you can go to that Raman bar you love so much!" Soifon watched as Naruto tried to calm down his best friends wife while said woman looked ready to unleash her Zampakto on him

Deciding she had seen enough Soifon went to stop Nanao before she actually did unleash her Zampakto by coughing loudly to get their attention. Hearing someone they turned to see Soifon with a scroll in hand as she watched the two of them with her mask in place although both could see the suppressed mirth in her eyes as she looked at them.

"Captain Soifon/Soifon-chan." Nanao and Naruto called out respectively causing Soifon's eyebrow to twitch in annoyance at Naruto's lack of respect but she had gotten used to it as he didn't show respect to anyone beyond his own captain and he was still called Jiji.

"Lieutenant Uzumaki I was just looking for you." Soifon said and she smirked inwardly as said man scowled at her for a few seconds before his normal grin returned to his face.

"What you need Soifon the Dumbass slaking off again?" this time Soifon did grin, she remembered when she had gone to the monthly gathering Naruto had with all his friends and she had ranted at how useless her new Lieutenant was. The others had listened but Naruto had gone and pranked not only her Lieutenant but his entire family much to her and many others delight. Since then Naruto has taken acted as her unofficial enforcer with dealing with the fat idiot whenever he grows too insufferable for her to take.

"Not yet but if he pulls another stunt like the one he did today he's all yours." She said making Naruto's face split with a devious grin. She could see his mind working out his next great prank when she continued.

"No I have something for you here I got it on my last mission." She said as she handed the scroll over to him and watching to see what Roko has in store for the blonde.

Naruto looked at the scroll curiously wondering what Soifon would get him which was unusual in and of itself if you asked everyone who knew her she rarely gave out gifts unless it was for certain occasions like a birthday/deathday (AN: the day someone arrives in Soul Society if you have a better name I'm all for it.) so for her to get someone something was odd.

Naruto opened the scroll and found a seal on it but before he could tell what it was he was covered in smoke from the scroll unsealing its contents. When the smoke cleared it showed Naruto with a bowl of Raman in his hand as his face turned to one of pure bliss at the smell of his favorite food.

"Soifon I don't know how but this smells just like Ichirakus so thank you!" and before Soifon could get a word in not that she planned to Naruto dug into the bowl with a pair of chopsticks that appeared out of nowhere. In record time he was finished with the bowl and patting his stomach happily when he noticed words carved around the inner edge of the bowl.

Dear Naruto if you are reading this than you have most likely already eaten the Raman I made for you I truly hope you enjoyed it cause you wont be able to do anything else for the next week or so while you are confined to the nearest bathroom hope you enjoyed it and don't talk about my personal life like its some kind of fairy tale your old and now dead friend, Akasuna no Roko.

Naruto's eyes widened at the message before he nearly keeled over with his arms wrapped around his stomach and with a quick good bye vanished to find the nearest bathroom. Soifon and Nanao who had watched the whole thing went over to the bowl and read the message Roko left and almost busted out laughing at how Roko even gone can still make someone regret annoying him.

"I want to ask how you got that but something tells me I'm better off not knowing I'll see you later Captain Soifon." With that Nanao and Soifon left to return to their Divisions.

* * *

Torappu- advanced puppet- Torappu has a bigger than average body compared to an adult human while his arms are massive in size capable of holding an average person in one hand with seals on the palm to drain any energy keyed into it when it gathers similar to Samahade does with chakra and stores it inside its arms and body. This energy can also be transferred if Torappu is touching someone/thing. Torappu's main purpose is meant for catching people alive or to gather unique energy for Roko to experiment with including Hollow, Shinigami, Visored, Quincy, and Fullbinger last one won't be till later.


End file.
